Data storage devices are well known from the state of the art. Such storage devices are, for example, CDs, DVDs, floppy discs or USB sticks. The user can obtain data from a source on a network such as a personal computer, internet, etc., and store the data on the portable storage device. Such a device is, in effect, a “passive” storage medium, having no intelligence of its own and being therefore unable to exert any influence on, for instance, the kind of content or data stored (e.g. mp3 music files, video, jpeg pictures, documents, and so on). Therefore, every time a user wants to store content on such a device, he must carry out this process manually. The additional effort required on the part of the user considerably detracts from the ease of use of such a portable storage device, which, due to its passive nature, is only of limited usefulness.
Developments in the areas of electronic devices and entertainment are leading in the direction of small, portable storage devices which can be taken by a user from one environment to another, for example from a home environment into an office or recreation environment, allowing the user access to his content collection regardless of where he is. For example, he might bring his music collection, stored on a storage device such as an MP3 player, to a party and have music from a playlist on the storage device play on the sound system there.
Conceivably, such a storage device could access and manage its content autonomously, i.e., by independently accessing an external source of content on a network and retrieving the content, without the user being actively involved all the time. For example, it might suffice that a user designate, in a once-off configuration step, that a storage device is to collect a certain type of content from the network, such as video content. Thereafter, the storage device autonomously scans one or more external data sources for such content, and downloads and stores the content. The user can then retrieve the content at a time that suits him best.
However, when the user is underway with his portable storage device or in an environment other than his home environment, the storage device will not have access to the network and an external source of content. In such situations, the storage device will be unable to carry out its autonomous function of collecting further content for the portable storage device. Equally, when a storage device is no longer powered for some reason, for example its battery runs empty or the storage device is physically disconnected from a power supply, the storage device is effectively removed from the network and will be unable to carry out its autonomous function in such cases also.